Abr video white spot coverage system and method

ABSTRACT

A scheme for managing ABR streaming of content in a wireless radio network environment that may have radio white spot areas. Upon determining that the wireless UE device executing an ABR client application is in a radio white spot area, the current ABR streaming session may be suspended at a particular segment. Thereafter, playback of other content locally cached at the wireless UE device may be commenced in lieu of the ABR media segments. When the wireless UE device exits the radio white spot area, the ABR streaming session may be resumed from a point adjacent to the particular segment where the ABR streaming session was suspended.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application discloses subject matter that is related to the subjectmatter of the following commonly-owned U.S. patent application(s): (i)“ADAPTIVE VIDEO WHITE SPOT LEARNING AND USER BANDWIDTH DELIVERY CONTROLSYSTEM” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P40959-US1), application Ser. No.14/036,841, filed Sep. 25, 2013, in the name(s) of Christopher Phillipset al.; (ii) “CONFLICT DETECTION AND RESOLUTION IN AN ABR NETWORK”(Ericsson Ref. No.: P42221-US1), application Ser. No. 14/194,868, filedMar. 3, 2014, in the name(s) of Christopher Phillips et al.; (iii)“CONFLICT DETECTION AND RESOLUTION IN AN ABR NETWORK USING CLIENTINTERACTIVITY” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P42767-US1), application Ser. No.14/194,918, filed Mar. 3, 2014, in the name(s) of Christopher Phillipset al.; and (iv) “TIME-SENSITIVE CONTENT MANIPULATION IN ADAPTIVESTREAMING BUFFER” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P39531-US1), application Ser. No.14/179,876, filed Feb. 13, 2014, in the name(s) of Jennifer Reynolds etal., each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to communication networks. Moreparticularly, and not by way of any limitation, the present disclosureis directed to a scheme for managing coverage in a wireless networkenvironment configured to facilitate adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming ofcontent.

BACKGROUND

While mobile radio data network coverage is widespread, there may beareas where data coverage is low or where there is enough channel noisedue to various factors such as, e.g., structures, interference, weather,etc. Although phone calls can generally overcome these issues byswitching to a different network protocol, video delivered over datanetworks generally cannot. Accordingly, when consuming video via ABRstreaming while traveling though an area of low coverage or poor signalquality, it is becomes necessary to manage a user's experience in asatisfactory manner.

SUMMARY

The present patent disclosure is broadly directed to systems, methods,apparatuses, devices, and associated non-transitory computer-readablemedia for managing ABR streaming sessions in a wireless networkenvironment that may have potential video outage areas (also referred toherein as “white spots”). In one embodiment, a radio white spot coveragemethod for a wireless user equipment (UE) device engaged in an ABRstreaming session is disclosed. The claimed embodiment comprises, interalia, determining that the wireless UE device is in a radio white spotarea (i.e., an area having poor video QoS); suspending and/orredirecting the current ABR streaming session at a particular segment;commencing play back of other content (i.e., alternative content)locally cached at the wireless UE device; determining that the wirelessUE device is exiting the radio white spot area; and resuming the ABRstreaming session from a point adjacent to the particular segment wherethe ABR streaming session was suspended.

In another aspect, an embodiment of a wireless UE device is disclosed,which comprises, inter alia, a cache for storing advertisementsdownloaded from a network entity while the wireless UE device is inradio coverage area having sufficient signal quality for supporting anoverall bandwidth rate that is greater than a bandwidth rate necessaryfor facilitating an ABR streaming session of content encoded at ahighest bitrate (e.g., as indicated in an ABR manifest file); an ABRbuffer for storing media segments encoded at different bitrates pursuantto an ABR streaming session; an ABR client player configured to playback content out of the ABR buffer; and one or more processors coupledto a persistent memory having program instructions for controlling theABR client player to play stored advertisements instead of mediasegments when the wireless UE device is in a radio white spot area.

In a still further aspect, an embodiment of a mobile-optimized ABRstream delivery server for facilitating ABR streaming sessions in awireless radio network environment is disclosed. The claimed embodimentcomprises, inter alia, one or more processors; an outage area requestmodule operating under control of the one or more processors andconfigured to request anticipated video outage areas with respect to awireless UE device, the anticipated video outage areas being based onthe wireless UE device's current location and estimated direction oftravel in the wireless radio network environment; an advertisementrequest module operating under control of the one or more processors forobtaining advertisement content from an advertisement server, whereinthe advertisement content is relevant with respect to the anticipatedvideo outage areas of the wireless UE device; and a delivery moduleoperating under control of the one or more processors and configured to:effectuate delivery of ABR media segments encoded at different bitratesand associated manifest files to the wireless UE device pursuant to anABR streaming session when the wireless UE device is not in a videooutage area; effectuate delivery of the advertisement content to thewireless UE device for local storage thereat; and provide updatedmanifest files to the wireless UE device containing location pointers tothe locally stored advertisements for playback by the wireless UEdevice's ABR client when the wireless UE device is in a video outagearea.

In a related aspect, an embodiment of a method for pre-populatingadvertisements in a wireless radio network environment is disclosed. Theclaimed embodiment comprises, inter alia, determining that a manifestfile associated with a wireless UE device's current ABR streamingsession is unencrypted, wherein the wireless UE device is operative inor otherwise associated with a vehicle (i.e., a UE-carrying vehicle)traveling in a geographical area of the wireless radio networkenvironment; parsing the manifest file for determining ABR profilebitrates used for encoding different media segments of the current ABRstreaming session; determining that the wireless UE device's overallbandwidth exceeds a highest bitrate indicated in the manifest file;determining at least one of a location and direction of travelassociated with the wireless UE device; determining that the wireless UEdevice is headed in a direction likely to encounter a video outage area;obtaining location coordinates of the video outage area and calculatingan estimated time for traversing through the video outage area;obtaining advertisements relevant to the video outage area wherein theadvertisements are estimated to last for a duration required to traversethe video outage area; and controlling delivery of the advertisements tothe wireless UE device at a delivery rate based on an amount by whichthe wireless UE device's overall bandwidth exceeds the highest bitrateindicated in the manifest file of the current ABR streaming session.

In a further related aspect, an embodiment of a method operating at anoptimized ABR stream delivery server is disclosed. The claimedembodiment comprises, inter alia, determining that a wireless UE deviceengaged in an ABR streaming session has entered a video outage area;updating a manifest file to reference at least one of an encodednotification message that the wireless UE device is out of videocoverage and one or more advertisements stored locally within thewireless UE device; and transmitting the updated manifest file to thewireless UE device, whereupon an ABR client executing on the wireless UEdevice is operative to play back at least one of the encodednotification message and one or more advertisements while the wirelessUE device is within the video outage area.

In a still further related aspect, an embodiment of a method operatingat a wireless UE device is disclosed. The claimed embodiment comprises,inter alia, receiving or otherwise obtaining a notification that thewireless UE device is in a video outage area of a wireless radio networkenvironment; continuing to play back media segments of the streamingsession from an ABR buffer associated with the ABR client; determiningwhether the ABR buffer is drained; if so, saving a next media segment'sexisting state based on the streaming session's manifest; and commencingplay back of one or more advertisements stored in a local cache of thewireless UE device.

In still further aspects, one or more embodiments of a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium containing computer-executable programinstructions or code portions stored thereon are disclosed forperforming one or more embodiments of the methods set forth above whenexecuted by a processor entity of a network node, element, UE device,and the like, mutatis mutandis. Further features of the variousembodiments are as claimed in the dependent claims.

Advantages of the present invention include, but not limited to, theability to adapt to ad hoc issues such as, e.g., inclement weatherinterference, variable low radio quality, noise, etc. that may beencountered in a wireless ABR streaming environment, wherein there isusually enough bandwidth in normal conditions to both pre-cacheadvertisement clips as well as watch a video or other requestedprogramming simulataneously. As will be seen hereinbelow, a video outagelearning process accompanying one or more implementations is operativeto provide a video QoS-aware location database with respect to anwireless network environment. Accordingly, advertisement segments andother alternative information pre-cached or pre-populated for users maybe tailored to user demographic information and/or outage locations,which provides for an enriched user experience that not only feels lessintrusive but also more informative. Because both pre-caching andstreaming of ABR media segments may be facilitated when adequatebandwidth is available in the network, only minimal or no specialimplementational modifications are necessary with respect to deployingcertain embodiments of the present disclosure in order to receivetailored advertisements. Further, as the advertisement clips typicallyneed less data than normal video streaming, multiple advertisement clipscan be cached once and played back several times, with the ability toupdate the clips relevant to newer video outage areas when needed.Additional benefits and advantages of the embodiments will be apparentin view of the following description and accompanying Figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example,and not by way of limitation, in the Figures of the accompanyingdrawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It shouldbe noted that different references to “an” or “one” embodiment in thisdisclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and suchreferences may mean at least one. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The accompanying drawings are incorporated into and form a part of thespecification to illustrate one or more exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Various advantages and features of the disclosurewill be understood from the following Detailed Description taken inconnection with the appended claims and with reference to the attacheddrawing Figures in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example wireless network environment for facilitatingABR streaming according to one or more embodiments of the present patentapplication;

FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart of an example methodology for building adatabase of video outage areas (i.e., radio white spot areas) accordingto an embodiment for purposes of the present patent application;

FIGS. 3A-3C depict flowcharts of various blocks, steps and/or acts thatmay be combined in one or more arrangements that illustrate one or moreembodiments of the present patent disclosure for optimizing userexperience while traversing a white spot area of a wireless networkenvironment;

FIGS. 4-10 depict additional details with respect to an example wirelessnetwork environment optimized for ABR streaming and associated methodsaccording to an embodiment of the present patent disclosure;

FIG. 11-16 depict additional details with respect to an example wirelessnetwork environment optimized for ABR streaming and associated methodsaccording to another embodiment of the present patent disclosure;

FIG. 17 depicts a block diagram of an example network element configuredto execute certain aspects according to one or more embodiments of thepresent patent application; and

FIG. 18 depicts a block diagram of an example wireless user equipment(UE) device including an ABR client configured to execute certainaspects according to one or more embodiments of the present patentapplication.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forthwith respect to one or more embodiments of the present patentdisclosure. However, it should be understood that one or moreembodiments may be practiced without such specific details. In otherinstances, well-known circuits, subsystems, components, structures andtechniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure theunderstanding of the example embodiments. Accordingly, it will beappreciated by one skilled in the art that the embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be practiced without such specific components. Itshould be further recognized that those of ordinary skill in the art,with the aid of the Detailed Description set forth herein and takingreference to the accompanying drawings, will be able to make and use oneor more embodiments without undue experimentation.

Additionally, terms such as “coupled” and “connected,” along with theirderivatives, may be used in the following description, claims, or both.It should be understood that these terms are not necessarily intended assynonyms for each other. “Coupled” may be used to indicate that two ormore elements, which may or may not be in direct physical or electricalcontact with each other, co-operate or interact with each other.“Connected” may be used to indicate the establishment of communication,i.e., a communicative relationship, between two or more elements thatare coupled with each other. Further, in one or more example embodimentsset forth herein, generally speaking, an element, component or modulemay be configured to perform a function if the element is capable ofperforming or otherwise structurally arranged to perform that function.

As used herein, a network element or node may be comprised of one ormore pieces of service network equipment, including hardware andsoftware that communicatively interconnects other equipment on a network(e.g., other network elements, end stations, etc.), and is adapted tohost one or more applications or services with respect to a plurality ofsubscribers. As such, some network elements may be disposed in awireless radio network environment whereas other network elements may bedisposed in a public packet-switched network infrastructure, includingor otherwise involving suitable content delivery network (CDN)infrastructure. Accordingly, some network elements may comprise“multiple services network elements” that provide support for multiplenetwork-based functions (e.g., AN media management, session control,Quality of Service (QoS) policy enforcement, bandwidth schedulingmanagement, subscriber/device policy and profile management, contentprovider priority policy management, streaming policy management,advertisement push policy management, and the like), in addition toproviding support for multiple application services (e.g., data andmultimedia applications). Subscriber end stations or client devices maycomprise any device configured to execute, inter alia, a streamingclient application (e.g., an ABR streaming client application) forreceiving content from one or more content providers, e.g., via mobiletelephony networks. Such client devices may therefore include portablelaptops, netbooks, palm tops, tablets, mobile phones, smartphones,multimedia phones, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phones,mobile/wireless user equipment, portable media players, portable gamingsystems or consoles (such as the Wii®, Play Station 3®, etc.) and thelike that may access or consume content/services provided over a contentdelivery network via a suitable high speed wireless connection forpurposes of one or more embodiments set forth herein. Further, theclient devices may also access or consume content/services provided overbroadcast networks (e.g., cable and satellite networks) as well as apacket-switched wide area public network such as the Internet viasuitable service provider access networks. In a still further variation,the client devices or subscriber end stations may also access or consumecontent/services provided on virtual private networks (VPNs) overlaid on(e.g., tunneled through) the Internet.

One or more embodiments of the present patent disclosure may beimplemented using different combinations of software, firmware, and/orhardware. Thus, one or more of the techniques shown in the Figures(e.g., flowcharts) may be implemented using code and data stored andexecuted on one or more electronic devices or nodes (e.g., a subscriberclient device or end station, a network element, etc.). Such electronicdevices may store and communicate (internally and/or with otherelectronic devices over a network) code and data using computer-readablemedia, such as non-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g.,magnetic disks, optical disks, random access memory, read-only memory,flash memory devices, phase-change memory, etc.), transitorycomputer-readable transmission media (e.g., electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals—such as carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals), etc. In addition, such networkelements may typically include a set of one or more processors coupledto one or more other components, such as one or more storage devices(e.g., non-transitory machine-readable storage media) as well as storagedatabase(s), user input/output devices (e.g., a keyboard, a touchscreen, a pointing device, and/or a display), and network connectionsfor effectuating signaling and/or bearer media transmission. Thecoupling of the set of processors and other components may be typicallythrough one or more buses and bridges (also termed as bus controllers),arranged in any known (e.g., symmetric/shared multiprocessing) orheretofore unknown architectures. Thus, the storage device or componentof a given electronic device or network element may be configured tostore code and/or data for execution on one or more processors of thatelement, node or electronic device for purposes of implementing one ormore techniques of the present disclosure.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, depictedtherein is an example wireless network environment 100 for facilitatingABR streaming according to one or more embodiments of the present patentapplication. A plurality of exemplary wireless or mobile devices or userequipment (UE) devices 108-1 to 108-N are shown as being operational inthe wireless environment 100 comprising an exemplary mobilecommunication network or carrier network 102. In the discussion herein,the terms “wireless network,” “mobile communication network,” “carriernetwork”, or terms of similar import may be used interchangeably torefer to a wireless communication network (e.g., a cellular network, aproprietary data communication network, a corporate-wide wirelessnetwork, etc.) that facilitates voice and/or data communications withdifferent types of wireless mobile devices (e.g., devices 108-1 to108-N). In one embodiment, such devices may be a User Equipment (UE) ora Mobile Station (MS) (also known by various analogous terms such as“mobile handset,” “wireless handset,” “mobile device,” “mobileterminal,” etc.) capable of receiving adaptively streamed/deliveredaudio-visual content from the network 102 and playing it using a localABR client player executing thereon. In some other embodiments, wirelessmobile devices may comprise portable gaming devices, electronic tablets,laptops equipped with suitable wireless modems, e-readers, and the like,as alluded to previously.

The wireless UE devices 108-1 to 108-N are shown to be in wirelesscommunication (via respective radio links 110-1 to 110-N) with thewireless network 102 through one or more base stations, e.g., basestation (BS) 104 (also interchangeably referred to herein as a “mobilecommunication network node” or simply a “node”) of the network 102. Theexample base station 104 may provide radio interface (in the form ofsuitable Radio Frequency (RF) links depending on the particular mobilecommunications technology) to devices 108-1 to 108-N via appropriateantenna elements. By way of example, the base station 104 may comprise abase station in a Third Generation (3G) network, or an evolved Node-B(eNodeB or eNB) when the carrier network is a Third GenerationPartnership Project's (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. In someexample embodiments, the base station 104 may also include a sitecontroller, an access point (AP), a radio tower, or any other type ofradio interface device capable of operating in a wireless environment.In addition to providing air interface or wireless channel (e.g., asrepresented by wireless links 110-1 to 110-N) to the wireless UEdevices, the communication node (or base station) 104 may also performradio resource management (as, for example, in case of an eNodeB in anLTE system). In case of a 3G carrier network, example base station 104may include functionalities of a 3G base station along with some or allfunctionalities of a 3G Radio Network Controller (RNC). Additionally,base station 104 may be part of an Access Network (AN) (not shown)portion of the carrier network 102, wherein the AN may be a 3GPPcellular AN or an International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) RadioAccess Network (RAN) such as, for example, a Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess Network (UTRAN), an Evolved-UTRAN (E-UTRAN), a GSM/EDGE RAN(GERAN), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)network, and the like.

Example carrier network 102 may include a network controller 106 coupledto the base station 104 for providing logical and control functionsrelative to, e.g., roaming support and/or terminal mobility management,subscriber account management, billing, etc., as well as accessing ofexternal networks or communication entities and delivery of streamed ANcontent from one or more content sources. By way of example,connectivity to other networks or infrastructures such as, for instance,the Internet 112, CDN 116 and a circuit-switched landline telephonenetwork (i.e., a Public-Switched Telephone Network or PSTN) 114, isillustrated. In case of an LTE carrier network, network controller 106may include some or all functionalities of an Access Gateway (AGW) or anEvolved Packet Core (EPC) node. In certain embodiments, suchfunctionalities may comprise, for example, an IMT core networkfunctionality or an ETSI TISPAN (European Telecommunications StandardsInstitute TIPHON (Telecommunications and Internet Protocol Harmonizationover Networks) and SPAN (Services and Protocols for Advanced Networks))core network functionality. Regardless of a particular implementation ofthe carrier network, base station 104 and/or network controllerfunctionality 106 may be configured to facilitate, in conjunction withor independent of one or more external network entities and databases, amethodology for controlling delivery of ABR streaming sessions towireless UE devices in potential video outage areas that may beencountered in the wireless network environment 100, as will be setforth in detail hereinbelow.

FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart of an example methodology 200 for building adatabase of video outage areas (i.e., radio white spot areas) accordingto an embodiment for purposes of the present patent application. Asshown at block 202 in FIG. 2, a network entity (e.g., in the carriernetwork 102 or a subscriber policy management node associated with CDN116 of FIG. 1) may initially determine a minimum threshold bitrate(e.g., for enforcing a QoS policy) authorized under an adaptivestreaming technique used by a mobile device (e.g., wireless UE device108-1) to play an audio/visual content file or program. The networkentity may then monitor whether a current audio/visual segment is beingdelivered to the wireless UE device at a delivery bitrate that is lowerthan the threshold bitrate (block 204). When the delivery bitrate of thecurrent streaming segment is determined to be lower than the thresholdbitrate, the network entity may obtain the geographic locationcoordinates for the wireless UE device (block 206) because such reduceddelivery bitrate may indicate a less than acceptable service, possiblydue to various radio signal quality conditions, including a radio outagecondition. Thereafter, the network entity may report those geographicallocation coordinates for storage into a database (block 208), which maybe configured to maintain a dataset of geo-locations (e.g., in the formof location coordinates) with respect to the geographical area of thenetwork 102 that have a less-than-desired radio coverage. Those skilledin the art will recognize that the dataset of video outage areas is notstatic and may not necessarily mean that there is a complete radiooutage at the reported locations. Depending on variable signalparameters, improvements to the infrastructure, changes in theenvironmental and structural elements (e.g., buildings, towers, etc.)within the wireless network environment, and the like, a locationdatabase of potential white spot areas may be continually and/ordynamically updated as needed (i.e., by way of a learning process).Furthermore, white spot area databases and/or server systems hostingsuch databases may be provided with suitable application programinterfaces or APIs that facilitate interaction with other networkentities and services, e.g., including bandwidth control. Additionaldetails regarding such techniques may be found in one or more of thefollowing commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application(s): (i)“ADAPTIVE VIDEO WHITE SPOT LEARNING AND USER BANDWIDTH DELIVERY CONTROLSYSTEM” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P40959-US1), application Ser. No. ______,filed ______, in the name(s) of Christopher Phillips et al. (referred tohereinafter as the “Video White Spot Learning patent application”),cross-referenced hereinabove and hereby incorporated by referenceherein.

FIGS. 3A-3C depict flowcharts of various blocks, steps and/or acts thatmay be combined in one or more arrangements that illustrate one or moreembodiments of the present patent disclosure for optimizing userexperience while traversing a radio white spot area of a wirelessnetwork environment. Reference numeral 300A in FIG. 3A generally refersto a broad methodology for providing radio white spot coverage for awireless UE device engaged in an ABR streaming session according to oneembodiment. For purposes of the present patent application, the wirelessUE device may be configured to receive or otherwise consume a variety ofcontent via streaming sessions effectuated over a suitable wirelessconnection, which streaming sessions may at least partly involvedelivery or distribution of convent via a delivery network such as CDN116 coupled to the wireless network serving the wireless UE deviceregardless of whether the wireless network is a home network or avisited network. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, example CDN116 may comprise an overlay network architected for high-performancestreaming of a variety of digital assets or program assets as well asservices (hereinafter referred to as “content”) to subscribers,including wireless/mobile equipment users, using one or moreInternet-based infrastructures, private/dedicated infrastructures or acombination thereof. In general, the terms “content”, “content file”, or“media segment” and the like as used in reference to at least someembodiments of the present patent disclosure may include digital assetsand program assets such as any type of audio/video content or programsegment, live or static (e.g., recorded over-the-air free networktelevision (TV) shows or programs, pay TV broadcast programs via cablenetworks or satellite networks, free-to-air satellite TV shows, IPTVprograms, etc.), Over-The-Top (OTT) and video-on-demand (VOD) ormovie-on-demand (MOD) shows or programs, time-shifted TV (TSTV) content,as well as other content assets provided by content publishers, ownersor providers, including but not limited to software files, executablecomputer code or programs, online electronic games, Internet radioshows/programs, entertainment programs, educational programs, movies,music video programs, and the like, that may be delivered using anyknown or heretofore unknown streaming technologies. By way ofillustration, content delivered via the serving wireless network (e.g.,carrier network 102) may be encoded using suitable ABR streamingtechniques to support Microsoft® Silverlight® Smooth Streaming, HTTPstreaming (for instance, Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP or DASH,HTTP Live Streaming or HLS, HTTP Dynamic Streaming or HDS, etc.),Icecast, and so on.

In general, the overlay architecture of CDN 116 may include amulti-level, hierarchically-organized interconnected assembly of networkservers for providing media pathways or “pipes” from one or more centraldistribution nodes to one or more levels of regional distribution nodesthat are connected to one or more local edge servers and/or radionetwork entities configured to serve a plurality of end users orsubscribers in respective serving location areas. In addition to such“distribution servers”, CDN 116 may also include and/or interoperatewith various network elements configured to effectuate requestredirection or rerouting mechanisms as well as related back officesystems or nodes such as operator/subscriber policy management systems,bandwidth scheduling systems, account/billing systems, and the like,that may be deployed as part of a streaming network back officeinfrastructure (not specifically shown in FIG. 1).

Continuing to refer to FIG. 3A, a determination may be made at block 302that the wireless UE device including a suitable ABR client andcurrently engaged in an ABR streaming session is heading towards and/orentering a radio white spot area based on a variety of techniques forpositioning/locating and estimating a travel direction of a mobiledevice known in the art. For example, such techniques may comprisepositioning methods based on radio cell coverage, Global PositioningSystem (GPS), Assisted GPS (A-GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System(GLONASS), Galileo, or other satellite based systems/methods, orTime-Of-Arrival (TOA), Uplink Time Difference Of Arrival (UTDOA),Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA), or Enhanced Observed TimeDifference (E-OTD) methods. In general, additional description of thepositioning methods in a cellular network may be found in such 3GPPTechnical Specifications (TS) as, for example, the TS 36.305 (E-UTRAN;Stage 2 functional specification of UE positioning in E-UTRAN), the TS25.305 (Stage 2 functional specification of UE positioning in UTRAN),and TS 43.059 (Functional stage 2 description of Location Services (LCS)in GERAN). Many of these positioning methods may be based on networktriangulation, Wi-Fi positioning, and/or wireless UE device's internalsources such as accelerometers, position sensors, etc., in addition toutilizing speed/direction estimations of a vehicle in which the wirelessUE device may be operating. Accordingly, given a set of current locationcoordinates of the wireless UE device (and/or the vehicle) as well as aspeed/direction estimate associated therewith, it can be anticipated asto where and when the vehicle and its UE device (hereinafter, the terms“vehicle” and “wireless UE device” operating therein will be usedsomewhat interchangeably for purposes of the example embodiments unlessotherwise expressly noted) will encounter radio white spots over aprojected route and/or duration of time by querying a suitable videooutage database.

After determining that the wireless UE device is in a radio white spotarea, a further determination may be made to suspend, terminate orotherwise disable or redirect the current ABR streaming session of thewireless UE device (block 304). Such deactivation or redirection maytake place immediately or at some other relevant point with respect tothe media segments being streamed, e.g., upon completion of a currentmedia segment. Further, the ABR client of the wireless UE device may beinstructed to commence playback of other content locally cached orotherwise buffered at the wireless UE device while the ABR streamingsession is in a deactivation/redirection mode. The locally availablealternative content may comprise advertisements, weather reports, newsclips, etc., that may be relevant with respect to (i) the video outagearea that the wireless UE device is in; (ii) demographic information ofthe wireless UE device user; (iii) the user's estimated travel routepassing through the video outage area; and/or some other user- ornetwork-specified information identified for preloading, etc., in anycombination thereof. The amount of such alternative content availablefor playback or play-out may be predetermined based on the estimatedtime it may take for the vehicle/UE device to traverse a particularvideo outage area. At some future time, based on determining that thewireless UE device is exiting the video outage area or lapse of a knownestimate of time required to traverse the video outage area, the ABRstreaming session may be (re)commenced or resumed from the point whereit was suspended (e.g., from a media segment adjacent to the particularsegment that was last played), as set forth at blocks 306 and 308.

Reference numeral 300B in FIG. 3B generally refers to at least a portionof additional features and associated blocks that may be added,replaced, or supplemented, either alone or in any combination, inrespect of the white spot area coverage process 300A described above. Asone skilled in the art will appreciate, ABR streaming techniques allowfor streaming of content encoded at varying bitrates, depending upon,inter alia, network bandwidth conditions, client resources, radio signalquality, etc. For example, a user's bandwidth and processing capacitymay be detected in real time, and the quality of video stream may beadjusted accordingly. Initially, source content is transcoded orotherwise encoded with different bit rates (e.g., multi-ratetranscoding). For example, a particular content may be transcoded intofive video files using variable bit rates, ranging from low to high bitrates. The particular content is therefore encoded as five different“versions” or “formats”, wherein each bit rate is called a profile orrepresentation. The encoded content is divided into fixed durationsegments or chunks, which are typically between two and ten seconds induration. Whereas shorter segments may reduce coding efficiency, largersegments may impact the adaptability to changes in network throughput,radio conditions, and/or fast changing client behavior. Regardless ofthe chunk size, the segments may be Group-of-Pictures (GOP)-aligned suchthat all encoding profiles have the same segments. A suitable ManifestFile is created that describes the encoding rates and includes UniversalResource Locator (URL) pointers relative to the various segments ofencoded content. In one implementation, the Manifest File (MF), aDelivery Format (DF) and means for conversion from/to existing FileFormats (FF) and Transport Streams (TS) may be provided to a clientdevice when a particular content is requested, which uses HTTP to fetchthe encoded segments from the content provider network, provided thereis no bandwidth conflict and/or radio signal deterioration. The receivedsegments may be buffered, as needed, and decoded and played back (i.e.,rendered) in sequence by the ABR client.

Accordingly, by virtue of the manifest file information, the ABR clientis made aware of the available streams at different bitrates, andsegments of the streams, whereby the client can switch between streamingthe different encoded segments depending on available network resources.For example, when the network throughput has deteriorated, e.g., as awireless UE device approaches a video outage area, the ABR client mayfind that the download speed for a currently-downloaded segment is lowerthan the bit rate (or, synonymously “bitrate”) specified for thatsegment in the manifest file. In that event, the client may request thatthe next segment be at that lower bitrate. Similarly, if the clientfinds that the download speed of the currently-downloaded segment isgreater than the manifest file-specified bitrate of the segmentdownloaded, then the client may request that next segments be at thathigher bitrate. Therefore, it should be recognized that an ABR buffermay contain requested media segments at different video qualities (e.g.,lower bitrate content having a lower quality versus higher bitratecontent having a correspondingly higher quality). Accordingly, beforesuspending an ongoing ABR streaming session due to, for example,encountering a video outage area, a determination may be made tocontinue to play back the lower bitrate media segments that have beenpreviously downloaded into the ABR buffer (block 352). Playback of suchlower bitrate content may take place until the ABR buffer is completelyexhausted or, if the buffer has stored progressively lower qualitysegments, upon reaching a certain minimum threshold quality acceptableto the user. Further, either upon exhausting the buffer or reaching thequality threshold, one or more notifications may be provided to the userthat the wireless UE client device is entering an outage area and/or thequality is unacceptable. The notifications may also indicate that thecurrent ABR streaming session is being suspended and alternative content(e.g., advertisements) may be played back instead (block 354).Similarly, when the wireless UE client device is exiting or out of aradio white spot, appropriate messages may be provided (block 356).

FIG. 3C depicts still further additional features and associated blocksthat may be added, replaced, or supplemented, either alone or in anycombination, in respect of the processes set forth in FIGS. 3A and 3B.Block 372 refers to features relating to pre-populating alternativecontent into a wireless UE device when the radio conditions of awireless network permit. As illustrated, parameters such assignal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, interference levels, and other channelconditions may be monitored or determined to be such that the signalquality may be sufficiently high, thereby permittingstreaming/downloading of alternative content, e.g., advertisements, fromappropriate content sources (e.g., an advertisement campaign server) inaddition to streaming of any requested content at a sufficient quality.Further, such alternative content may comprise content is deemedrelevant with respect to potential white spot areas likely to beencountered in the wireless UE device's expected route and/or may bebased on the user's and other demographic information. Rather thanplaying back the alternative content immediately, it may be stored in alocal cache (different from the ABR client's buffer). In one embodiment,when the wireless UE device is in a known white spot area, appropriatecontent is moved from the local cache into the ABR buffer for playback,which may be triggered responsive to network-based messaging or UEdevice determination (block 374). Thereafter, the alternative content isplayed out from the ABR buffer based on modified manifest files thatreference to the internal cache location (block 376).

It should be appreciated that the foregoing blocks, steps and/or acts ofFIGS. 3A-3C may be arranged or re-arranged in several combinations,which may be executed at different locations or at co-located networkelements or nodes within a wireless network environment such as theexample network environment 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. Further,redirection or switching of content playback (i.e., betweenuser-requested media segments and locally-stored alternative content)may be client-independent (e.g., for a network-controlledimplementation) or client-specific (e.g., for a client-controlledimplementation), depending on where some of the foregoing blocks, stepsand/or acts may take place. Additional details with respect to one ormore of such embodiments may be exemplified in view of the followingFigures described below.

FIGS. 4-10 depict additional details with respect to an example wirelessnetwork environment optimized for ABR streaming and associated methodsaccording to a network-controlled implementation of the present patentdisclosure wherein a generic or legacy ABR client is operative forconsuming content. Specifically, FIGS. 4 and 5 depict a wireless networkenvironment 400 and associated processing 500 for effectuatingnetwork-controlled pre-caching or pre-populating advertisement contentin a wireless UE device operating in a vehicle, collectively referred toby reference numeral 410. FIG. 6 depicts a portion 600 of the networkenvironment 400 wherein an advertisement play out process 700 may bepracticed according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 8 depicts aportion 800 of the network environment 400 wherein an ABR streamingsession resumption process 900 may be practiced according to theembodiment shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 10 depicts another network rendition1000 corresponding to the network environment 400 whereinlocation-specific advertisements are pre-cached as the wireless UEdevice is anticipated to encounter another outage area of the network.

Taking reference to FIG. 4, the example wireless environment 400 isillustratively shown as comprising a plurality of coverage areas, e.g.,areas 404-1 to 404-3, effectuated by appropriate wireless networkinfrastructure elements, e.g., base stations 402-1 to 402-3,corresponding thereto. As is known in the art, a radio coverage area bya base station may take any shape and include varying levels of signalquality and strength, wherein there may be some coverage gap dependingon a number of factors. Illustratively, coverage areas 404-1 to 404-3are exemplified as circular regions, each having a plurality ofconcentric signal quality/strength contours. By way of example, coveragearea 404-3 is shown to include three such contours 406-1 to 406-3, eachdepicted with a respective signal level indicator icon, 412-1 to 412-3,respectively. Contour 406-1 having the highest signal quality is closestto base station 402-3, whereas contours 406-2 and 406-3 are spacedfurther away from the base station, with progressively deterioratingsignal quality (i.e., strength, level, etc.). A radio white spot area orvideo outage area 408, which may take any shape, is illustratively shownas being disposed where the three coverage areas 404-1 to 404-3 cometogether. A UE-carrying vehicle 410 is illustratively shown astraversing from coverage area 404-3 to coverage 404-2, potentially via apath or route 401 that may traverse the video outage area 408.

To facilitate ABR streaming and alternative content pushing for localstorage, a number of network nodes or elements may be configured tointerface with or otherwise be included as part of the wireless networkenvironment. A mobile-optimized ABR stream delivery server 414, whichmay be provided as part of a network controller node, is configured todeliver ABR content to wireless UE devices via respective sessionsestablished through the serving base stations of the wireless networkenvironment, wherein the content being delivered may originate from anynumber of content sources and/or may involve appropriate CDNinfrastructure elements (not shown in FIG. 4). Accordingly, at least inone embodiment, the ABR stream delivery server 414 may be provided withappropriate radio interfaces with respect to the serving base stationsand may be configured to maintain/monitor UE devices' real-time mobilesessions. The ABR stream delivery server 414 may also interface with avideo quality location awareness server 418 and associated geo-locationdatabase 420 having relevant video outage information. In oneimplementation, such a database may be developed using a learningprocess described above with respect to FIG. 2, which may be augmentedwith additional features set forth in the commonly owned Video WhiteSpot Learning patent application referenced previously. A SegmentEncoding and User Session Segment Delivery and Alternative Content Pushcontrol module 416 (also referred to as a “delivery module” or “deliverycontrol module” herein) may monitor delivery bitrate/bandwidth for thestreaming content delivered by the ABR stream delivery server 414 aswell as effectuate the delivery of alternative content (e.g.,advertisements) as will be discussed in more detail below. In oneembodiment, the delivery module 416 may be integrated as part of the ABRstream delivery server 414 which may be configured to provide manifestfiles for the alternative content to the UE devices in addition to mediasegments delivered to the UEs pursuant to respective ABR streamingsessions. The ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associated deliverycontrol module 416 may therefore be interfaced, in one embodiment, witha suitable advertisement campaign management and media system 426 havinga advertisement media segment database 428, for access via a publicpacket-switched network such as the Internet or an operator network,cumulatively referred to by reference numeral 424.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 4, the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/orassociated delivery control module 416 may also be interfaced, in anetwork-controlled implementation, to a video message generation system422 for generating and providing appropriate notifications and/ormessages to the wireless UEs as they enter or approach a video outagearea. Broadly, in one embodiment, such notification messages maycomprise a video-encoded still image of a message (text, graphics, etc.)configured to apprise the user of any information relevant with respectto the streaming session, e.g., to the effect that an outage hasoccurred and/or alternative content may be played in lieu of therequested content and/or for a certain predetermined time, for instance.The video-encoded still image, which may be encoded at a low bitrate,may be provided or otherwise delivered to the UE devices when the radioconditions permit (i.e., having sufficient bandwidth while continuing toeffectuate the requested ABR streaming sessions), using suitablemanifest files and/or redirection techniques as set forth in additionaldetail in one or more of the following commonly owned co-pending U.S.patent application(s): (i) “CONFLICT DETECTION AND RESOLUTION IN AN ABRNETWORK” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P42221-US1), application Ser. No.14/194,868, filed Mar. 3, 2014, in the name(s) of Christopher Phillipset al., and (ii) “CONFLICT DETECTION AND RESOLUTION IN AN ABR NETWORKUSING CLIENT INTERACTIVITY” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P42767-US1), applicationSer. No. 14/194,918, filed Mar. 3, 2014, in the name(s) of ChristopherPhillips et al., cross-referenced hereinabove and hereby incorporated byreference herein.

Turning to FIG. 5, an advertisement content push process 500 in anetwork-controlled implementation may now be described in conjunctionwith the network arrangement of FIG. 4. In a normal streaming operation(e.g., under suitable radio conditions supportive of sufficientbandwidth), the UE device 410 is engaged in pulling high bitrate mediacontents (e.g., 2 Mbs segments) via its serving base station 402-3 shownin FIG. 4 as streaming session path 448 (block 502). A suitable networkentity, e.g., the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associateddelivery control module 416 may initially determine if the ABR streamingsession's manifest is encrypted (block 504). If so, no furthermonitoring takes place and the processing for pre-population ofadvertisement content is subsequently refrained (block 508). If themanifest file is not encrypted, the network entity may parse themanifest file for ABR profiles (block 506), i.e., the media segmentbitrates specified in the manifest file for the current ABR streamingsession. A determination may be made whether the overall bandwidth ofthe wireless UE device 410 exceeds a highest bitrate indicated in themanifest file, i.e., if there exists additional mobile bandwidth overand above the bandwidth necessary to support pulling the media segmentswith the highest bitrate specified in the manifest file (block 510). Ifnot, a further determination may be made to verify whether the wirelessUE device 410 is still active (block 512). If it is determined that thewireless UE device is not active, further monitoring and processing forpre-population of advertisement content may be refrained (block 508). Onthe other hand, if it is determined that the wireless UE device isactive, the process flow may revert to checking again whether thereexists additional bandwidth (block 510). In one variation, such aprocess loop may involve waiting for a certain period of time beforere-determining additional bandwidth availability.

If there is additional bandwidth as determined at block 510, a furtherdetermination may be made to determine at least one of a location anddirection of travel associated with the UE-carrying vehicle 410 (block514). As explained previously, such a determination may be effectuatedusing any known or heretofore unknown location techniques available withrespect to the wireless network environment 400 depending on its radiotechnology implementation. Thereafter, one or more determinations may bemade as to whether the UE-carrying vehicle 410 is headed in a directionlikely to encounter a video outage area (i.e., a radio white spot), andif so, what its coordinates are and how long it will take to traversethrough it, which determinations/decisions and associated calculationsmay be effectuated by way of one or more request/response mechanismswith respect to the video quality location awareness server 418 andassociated geo-location database 420 having relevant video outageinformation, as set forth at blocks 516, 518, 520 and 522.Illustratively, a request/query 430 to the video quality locationawareness server 418 may comprise:

Request anticipated Video Outage;

Location: Client Location: 19.9423 Deg North; 155.9985 Deg West;

Heading: 110 Deg East;

Speed: 60 mph

Responsive thereto, the video quality location awareness server 418 mayprovide a response 432 that comprises the following with respect to thetravel path 401:

Response;

Outage Begin 19.0323 Deg North; 155.0012 Deg West;

Interval: 5 min 30 Sec

If the current heading indicates no upcoming outage, further monitoringand processing for pre-population of advertisement content may berefrained as before (block 508). Otherwise, upon obtaining locationcoordinates of the video outage area and estimated travel time throughvideo outage (block 520, 522), one or more request/response mechanismsmay be carried out with respect to the alternative content server/system426 and associated media segment database 428 via network 424 forobtaining suggested advertisements that cover the outage area time(blocks 524, 526). In FIG. 4, such interactions are illustratively shownas a request/response mechanism, wherein an example request/query 440may include the following input:

Calculated Outage Location;

Location: Client Location: 19.0323 Deg North; 155.0012 Deg West;

User Demographic Information: Age, Gender, Etc.

Responsive thereto, an example response 442 may include the followinginformation:

6 advertisement clips/segments;

(Location-specific and/or User-specific);

Total time=Calculated Video Outage Interval of 5 min 30 Sec

Further, the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associated deliverycontrol module 416 may effectuate additional request/responsemechanisms, e.g., request 434 and response 436, with respect to thevideo message generation system 422 for generating/obtaining one or morecustom message segments, e.g., a customer message stating: “You areinside a video outage. Your ETA to leave outage area is xx minutes. YourVideo will resume in xx minutes” (block 528). Thereafter, the networkentity 414/416 may commence managed bandwidth push of advertisementmedia segment(s) and associated manifest(s) as well as the custommessage notification(s) and associated manifest(s) to the wireless UEdevice 410 with a throttled delivery rate based on an amount by whichthe device's overall bandwidth exceeds the highest bitrate indicated inthe manifest file of the current ABR streaming session (block 530),which is illustratively shown in FIG. 4 as ad media and message pushpath 446 to the serving base station 402-3.

Referring now to FIG. 6, depicted therein is a portion 600 of thenetwork environment 400 described above in detail. It should berecognized that at least certain portions of the description of FIG. 4are equally applicable with respect to the wireless network environmentportion 600, mutatis mutandis, wherein an advertisement play out process700 may be practiced according to an embodiment shown in FIG. 7. As theUE-carrying vehicle 410 continues to travel towards coverage area 404-2served by the base station 402-2, it begins to experience progressivelylower quality radio coverage locations of the coverage area 404-3 beforeentering the video outage area 408. Pursuant to such signaldeterioration and/or other methods of localization described herein, theABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associated delivery control module416 may determine that the UE-carrying vehicle or client 410 has enteredthe loss of video coverage area (block 702). Responsive thereto, servicelogic provided at the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associateddelivery control module 416 is operative in one embodiment to update orotherwise modify location pointers of the ABR streaming session to bereplaced by the pointers associated with the pre-populated alternativecontent and/or custom message notifications that reference the wirelessUE device's internal or local cache where such content was downloadedand stored. That is, the manifest URLs that would have pointed tolocations elsewhere in the network are now replaced with URLs that pointto a local storage file path, the implementation of which may depend onthe device's software (i.e., operating system or other controlsoftware), which are then transmitted to the wireless UE device 410(block 706). It should be appreciated that although the radio signalquality may be less than desirable or sufficient for purposes of ABRstreaming of video content, the wireless UE device 410 may continue tobe in radio communication with one or more base stations, e.g., 402-1 to402-3, as it approaches/enters any white spots along the way, which maybe adequate for sending the updated manifest files via any suitablemeans. In FIG. 6, a path 602 is illustrative of transmission of updatedmanifests to base station 402-3 that contain pointers to the content(cached at the wireless UE device 410) whose playback is estimated orotherwise calculated to take up the time required to traverse the videooutage area 408. In one implementation, the updated manifest file(s) maycontain URLs that take on a form such as, e.g., file://<filename andpath to segment>, depending on the device software. In someimplementations, the device software may not allow accessing suchinternal references by the ABR client application executing thereon. Insuch a scenario, a local HTTP server functionality may be provided aspart of the wireless UE device's software architecture, whereby updatedmanifests may accordingly include URLs pointing to the local HTTP serverin a manner that is more acceptable. For example, an illustrative URLreferencing local HTTP server may take on the form:http://127.0.0.1/message/. Additional subject matter relative tomanipulation, updating or modification of URLs and/or manifest files maybe found in one or more of the following commonly owned co-pending U.S.patent application(s): (i) “TIME-SENSITIVE CONTENT MANIPULATION INADAPTIVE STREAMING BUFFER” (Ericsson Ref. No.: P39531-US1), applicationSer. No. 14/179,876, filed Feb. 13, 2014, in the name(s) of JenniferReynolds et al., cross-referenced hereinabove and hereby incorporated byreference herein.

Responsive to receiving the updated manifest files, the ABR clientapplication executing on the wireless UE device is operative to play outthe locally stored message segment (e.g., video-encoded still image of atext to the effect that it has entered a video outage area and playbackof the video session will resume once the video outage area is exited).After the notification message playback, the ABR client application maycommence playback of the locally stored advertisement content based onthe sequence of associated manifest URLs as set forth at block 708.

Turning to FIG. 8, depicted therein is a portion 800 of the networkenvironment 400 wherein an ABR streaming session resumption process 900may be practiced according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 9. As theUE-carrying vehicle 410 exits the video outage area 408 and begins toenter the coverage area 404-2, it may experience improved radio signalquality. The ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associated deliverycontrol module 416 may determine that the UE-carrying vehicle or client410 has exited the video coverage area (block 902). Service logicexecuting thereat may further be configured to update or modify themanifest files to include URLs that point to one or more locally-cachednotification messages appropriate to the exiting state, followed bypointers to ABR media segments starting at the segment adjacent to thelast media segment what was delivered prior to video outage (block 904).Thereafter, the updated manifest files may be transmitted (block 906) tothe UE device 410, as shown by path 802 in FIG. 8. Responsive to theupdated manifest files, the ABR client application on the wireless UEdevice commences play back of the locally stored message segment(s)apprising the user of video outage exit condition and subsequentcommencement of the ABR streaming session at a suitable point (block908). As the example ABR streaming session set up in FIG. 4 involves asegment pull rate of 250 Kbs, lowest ABR encoded bitrate of 500 Kbs andhighest ABR manifest bitrate of 2 Mbs, the resumed streaming sessioninitially throttles at pulling 500 Kbs media segments, delivered via apath 804 to base station 402-2 as shown in FIG. 8. Also, network entity414/416 may interface with video quality location awareness server 418and associated geo-location database 420 via suitable request/responsemessages (e.g., similar to request 430 and response 432 describedhereinabove with respect to FIG. 4), to obtain future video outagelocations and effectuate pre-populating/pre-caching of relevantalternative content with respect to such locations, as the additionalbandwidth progressively becomes more available (block 910).

FIG. 10 depicts another network rendition 1000 corresponding to thenetwork environment 400 wherein location-specific advertisementscontinue to be pre-cached as the wireless UE device 410 is anticipatedto encounter another outage area 1018 of the network in its expectedroute 1001 traversing the service area 404-2. Analogous to the coveragearea 404-3 described hereinabove, coverage area 404-2 of base station404-2 is shown to include a plurality of concentric signalquality/strength contours 1020-1 to 1020-3, each depicted with arespective signal level indicator icon, 1022-1 to 1022-3, respectively.Contour 1020-1 having the highest signal quality is closest to basestation 402-2, whereas contours 1020-2 and 1020-3 are spaced furtheraway from the base station, with progressively deteriorating signalquality (i.e., strength, level, etc.). For example, area enclosed bycontour 1020-1 may have sufficient signal strength to support an overallbandwidth of 8 Mbs, whereas areas enclosed between contours 1020-1 and1020-2 and between contours 1020-2 and 1020-2 may support overall UEbandwidths of 2 Mbs and 500 Kbs, respectively. When the wireless UEdevice 410 is within the area enclosed by contour 1020-1, service logicassociated with the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associateddelivery control module 416 is operative to determine that given thehighest bitrate of ABR streaming session as being 2 Mbs, there existsadditional bandwidth for pushing updated advertisements and notificationmessages relevant with respect to the next likely outage area 1018 basedon the current heading, direction, and/or speed information associatedwith the estimated route 1001. Similar to the request/response messages430/432, the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associated deliverycontrol module 416 is operative to query the video quality locationawareness server 418 and associated geo-location database 420 again viaa request message 1002 containing updated location/heading information.Responsive thereto, a response 1004 containing updated video outage areainformation, including, e.g., its coordinates and an estimate of howlong it will take to traverse the outage area, etc., is provided. Usingrequest/response queries 1006/1008 similar to request/response queries434/436, and request/response queries 1012/1014 similar torequest/response queries 440/442, the ABR stream delivery server 414and/or associated delivery control module 416 is operative to obtainappropriate advertisement segments and notification messages for pushingto the wireless UE device 410, in a manner similar to the process setforth in FIG. 5 described above, mutatis and mutandis, relevant withrespect to the new video outage area 1018. As it has been determinedthat there is sufficient bandwidth for effectuating streaming of highestbitrate media segments, the functionality of network entity 414/416 isoperative to throttle the delivery of ABR segments at 2 Mbs via basestation 402-2 as exemplified by path 1018. Further, the network entity414/416 commences managed bandwidth push of advertisement mediasegment(s) and associated manifest(s) as well as the custom messagenotification(s) and associated manifest(s) to the wireless UE device410, via base station 402-2 as exemplified by path 1016, with athrottled delivery rate based on the additional bandwidth amountavailable, similar to the functionalities set forth at block 530 of FIG.5.

It will be realized that in the foregoing embodiments redirection of ABRplay-back in anticipated outage areas (i.e., from ABR media segments toalternative content and back to ABR media segments) is mainly controlledby the network-based functionalities (e.g., the ABR stream deliveryserver 414 and/or associated delivery control module 416 in conjunctionwith other wireless network nodes) wherein the network-based servicelogic is operative to determine when an ABR client device is in theoutage area and dynamically adjust the manifest URLs to the storedbuffer locations within the UE device for commencing the alternativecontent cached thereat. As seen from the detailed descriptionhereinabove, some of the embodiments may also provide for appropriatemessage notifications to the user to facilitate a richer and morehelpful experience with respect to transitioning in and out of radiowhite spot areas.

In certain other embodiments of the present patent disclosure, aclient-specific or client-controlled redirection may be implementedespecially where custom ABR clients are deployed. In suchimplementations, when the ABR client receives or otherwise obtains anotification that it is in an area of non-sustainable video bandwidth,it automatically begins playing buffered alternative content until it isdetermined that the client has traversed through the video outage area.FIGS. 11-16 depict additional details with respect to client-controlledredirection an example wireless network environment optimized for ABRstreaming. Similar to FIGS. 4-10, FIGS. 11-16 depict various aspects ofan illustrative client-controlled redirection process for purposes ofthe instant patent application. Specifically, FIGS. 11 and 12 relate toa wireless network environment 1100 and associated processing foreffectuating a client-controlled advertisement push process. FIG. 13Adepicts example ABR buffer status/condition in a client-controlled playout scenario relative to various locations as the client encounters andtraverses through a video outage area as illustrated in FIG. 13B. FIGS.14 and 15 depict example advertisement play out process 1400 and ABRstreaming session resumption process 1500, respectively. Finally, FIG.16 depicts another network rendition 1600 corresponding to the wirelessnetwork environment 1100 wherein advertisements continue to be pushed ina client-controlled manner as the wireless UE device is anticipated toencounter another outage area of the network.

Turning to FIGS. 11 and 12, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe example wireless network environment 1100 and associatedadvertisement push process 1200 are similar to the features depicted inFIGS. 4 and 5. Accordingly, for purposes of brevity, the description ofFIGS. 4 and 5 is also applied and incorporated here with respect toFIGS. 11 and 12, mutatis mutandis. Focusing on the client-controlledaspects, it should be noted that the example network environment 1100shown in FIG. 11 does not include a video-encoded message generationsystem in contrast to the network-controlled scenario set forth in FIG.4. On the other hand, other network functionalities, e.g., interfacingof the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associated delivery controlmodule 416 in conjunction with other wireless network nodes,geo-location database(s), advertisement media server(s), etc., remainsubstantially the same. Accordingly, the advertisement push processes500 and 1200 are generally similar (e.g., blocks 502 to 524 in FIG. 5and blocks 1202 to 1224 in FIG. 12), although some of the features ofprocess 1200 may take place at or be triggered by a custom ABR client.Furthermore, process 1200 does not involve generating video-encodednotification messages and pushing such messages to the custom ABRclient. On the other hand, a manifest playlist for the suggestedadvertisements that cover the estimated video outage area is generatedfor facilitating automatic play-back by the ABR client (block 1226).Thereafter, the advertisement manifest playlist as well as theadvertisement segments are pushed to the ABR client in a managedbandwidth control process as set forth at block 1228.

Taking FIGS. 13A and 13B together, reference numeral 1300A refers toexemplary ABR buffer status at the wireless UE device 410 as itencounters and traverses a video outage area 1300B. Illustratively,video outage area 1300B having an ingress boundary 1320 and an egressboundary 1322 is another rendition of the outage areas describedelsewhere herein, wherein the vehicle carrying wireless UE device 410 isshown at five specific locations—Locations 1 to 5—relative to the outagearea. Reference numeral 1302-1 refers to the ABR buffer conditioncorresponding to Location 1. As the UE-carrying vehicle 410 approachesthe ingress boundary 1320 (e.g., Location 1), it can be seen that theABR buffer may contain a plurality of high bitrate media segments 1304followed by a plurality of low bitrate segments due to varying networkbandwidth and/or radio signal conditions, for example. The ABR clientcontinues to play out available high bitrate segments 1304 (e.g., 2 Mbssegments) followed by available low bitrate segments 1306 (e.g., 500 Kbssegments) as the UE-carrying vehicle 410 enters the video outage area(e.g., Location 2), leading to gradual exhaustion of the buffer,exemplified by the status condition 1303-2. As the media content in theABR buffer is exhausted (indicated by empty buffer storage 1308), theABR buffer is filled with the advertisement segments 1310 (e.g., movedfrom a local cache into the buffer) based on the associated manifestplaylist, as exemplified by the status conditions 1302-3 and 1303-4corresponding to Locations 3 and 4 of the video outage area 1300B. Whenthe UE-carrying vehicle 410 exits the egress boundary 1322 of the videooutage area 1300B, the ABR buffer begins to fill with media segments,e.g., low bitrate segments 1306, gradually adapting to improved radiosignal conditions, as illustrated by the status condition 1302-5corresponding to Location 5.

FIG. 14 depicts an example advertisement play out process 1400 in aclient-controlled environment described hereinabove. At block 1402, thewireless UE device 410 executing an ABR client application may receiveor otherwise obtain a notification that it is inside an outage area. Itshould be appreciated that in some implementations, a portion of thevideo outage database may be provided to the wireless UE device so thatthe service logic executing thereat may perform suitable controloperations with respect to automatically playing back the pre-loadedalternative content in an outage area. Responsive to the determinationthat the wireless UE device is within the outage area, the ABR clientapplication executing thereon continues to play back the available mediasegments from the ABR buffer associated therewith (block 1404). When theABR buffer is eventually drained (block 1406), the ABR client devicesaves the existing state of the next media segment to download based onthe associated manifest (block 1408). A locally-generated message ornotification may be provided by the ABR client to the user that the UEdevice is in the video outrage area and the streaming session willresume in due course, e.g., when the video outage area is exited, withina predetermined time, etc. (block 1410). Thereafter, the ABR clientapplication commences playing back the advertisement segments filledinto the ABR buffer from a local storage (block 1412).

FIG. 15 depicts an example ABR streaming session resumption process 1500in a client-controlled environment. Similar to the features of block1402, the wireless UE device 410 executing an ABR client application mayreceive or otherwise obtain a notification that it has exited an outagearea and video coverage is available (block 1502). The ABR clientapplication determines that an advertisement segment is currently beingplayed and completes playing that current advertisement segment (blocks1504 and 1506). Upon determining that the wireless UE device hassufficient radio signal quality, a notification may be provided to theuser that video coverage is available and the streaming session is aboutto commence (blocks 1508 and 1510). The ABR client application resumesvideo session at the next segment beyond the previously played segmentprior to the outage (block 1512). Thereafter, client-controlledadvertisement pushing may continue as additional bandwidth becomesavailable (block 1514), similar to the features set forth at block 910in FIG. 9.

FIG. 16 depicts another rendition 1600 corresponding to the wirelessnetwork environment 1100 wherein location-specific and/or user-specificadvertisements are pre-cached as the wireless UE device 410 isanticipated to encounter another outage area 1618 of the network in itsexpected route 1601 traversing through the service area of base station402-2. Analogous to the scenario depicted in FIG. 10, suitablerequest/response queries 1602/1604 with respect to the video qualitylocation awareness server 418 and associated geo-location database 420may be executed by the ABR stream delivery server 414 and/or associateddelivery control module 416 relative to the expected route 1601, e.g.,based on location, speed, heading, etc. Likewise, suitablerequest/response queries 1608/1610 may be effectuated for obtainingappropriate advertisement segments to be pushed to the wireless UEdevice 410, in a manner similar to the process set forth in FIG. 12described above, mutatis and mutandis. The new set of advertisementsegments are specific and relevant with respect to the new video outagearea 1618 and may take up shorter or longer duration than theadvertisement clips previously provided relative to the earlier outagearea 408 (i.e., updating of locally-cached alternative content on outagearea basis). As it has been determined that there is sufficientbandwidth for effectuating streaming of highest bitrate media segments,the functionality of network entity 414/416 is operative to throttle thedelivery of ABR media segments at 2 Mbs via base station 402-2 asexemplified by streaming session path 1616. Further, the network entity414/416 commences managed bandwidth push of advertisement mediasegment(s) and associated manifest playlist to the wireless UE device410, via base station 402-2 as exemplified by advertisement push path1614, with a corresponding throttled delivery rate based on theadditional bandwidth amount available, similar to the functionalitiesset forth at block 530 of FIG. 5 and block 1228 of FIG. 12.

FIG. 17 depicts a block diagram of an example network element 1700configured to execute certain aspects according to one or moreembodiments of the present patent application. By way of illustration,network element 1700 is exemplary of a mobile-optimized ABR streamdelivery server and/or associated delivery control module describedabove, which may be provided as part of an RNC in certain embodiments.One or more processors 1702 may be provided for controlling a pluralityof subsystems, at least a portion of which may be implemented as acombination of hardware and software modules stored as instructions orprogram code in suitable persistent memory 1722. An outage area requestmodule 1706 is operative to effectuate suitable request/responsemechanisms for obtaining video outage area information via an interface1712 to appropriate video QoS-aware location servers/databases describedhereinabove. An advertisement request module 1708 is operative toeffectuate suitable request/response mechanisms for obtainingadvertisement segments based on the video outage information and/or userdemographic information, etc., via an interface 1714 to one or moreadvertisement servers/databases. A message notification module 1720 mayoptionally be included for obtaining video-encoded notification messagesin a network-controlled implementation of ABR streaming redirection. Adelivery control module 1710 is operative to effectuate segmentencoding, user session segment delivery and advertisement push as wellas appropriate bandwidth control for sessions via radio interfaces 1716with respect to a serving wireless network. Additionally, networkelement 1700 may also include appropriate interfacing 1718 with respectto content sources and/or associated delivery networks.

FIG. 18 depicts a block diagram of an example wireless user equipment(UE) device 1800 including an ABR client 1806 configured to executecertain aspects under control of processor(s) 1802 according to one ormore embodiments of the present patent application. Appropriatetransceiver (Tx/Rx) circuitry 1804 coupled to an antenna unit 1814 isoperative to effectuate radio communications for purposes of the presentdisclosure including, e.g., streaming of media, pre-caching ofadvertisements and notification messages, etc. in addition to otherstandard cellular telephony/data communications. The ABR client 1806 isoperative to play out segments stored in an ABR buffer 1812, which maybe filled with preloaded content from a local cache 1810 in certainembodiments described above. An HTTP server 1816 may be provided incertain embodiments for facilitating internal referencing of manifestURLs corresponding to locally cached content. In one implementation, thefunctionality of HTTP server 1816 may be implemented as executable codeportion stored in a persistent memory module 1814. Additionally, thepersistent memory module 1814 may also comprise various code portionsfor effectuating at least some of the processes described hereinabove.

Based upon the foregoing Detailed Description, it should be appreciatedthat one or more embodiments of the present disclosure can beadvantageously implemented in a number of wireless ABR streamingenvironments that may include legacy client applications and/or customclient applications. By detecting potential video outage areas in awireless network environment, better network service behavior can beachieved for any location-based service involving video streaming, forexample.

In the above-description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein isfor the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the invention. Unless otherwise defined, allterms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have thesame meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the artto which this invention belongs. It will be further understood thatterms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should beinterpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning inthe context of this specification and the relevant art and may not beinterpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense expressly so definedherein.

At least some example embodiments are described herein with reference toblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implementedmethods, apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer programproducts. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions that are performed by one or more computercircuits. Such computer program instructions may be provided to aprocessor circuit of a general purpose computer circuit, special purposecomputer circuit, and/or other programmable data processing circuit toproduce a machine, so that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer and/or other programmable data processingapparatus, transform and control transistors, values stored in memorylocations, and other hardware components within such circuitry toimplement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks, and thereby create means (functionality)and/or structure for implementing the functions/acts specified in theblock diagrams and/or flowchart block(s). Additionally, the computerprogram instructions may also be stored in a tangible computer-readablemedium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processingapparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructionsstored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufactureincluding instructions which implement the functions/acts specified inthe block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

As alluded to previously, tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium may include an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, orsemiconductor data storage system, apparatus, or device. More specificexamples of the computer-readable medium would include the following: aportable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM) circuit, aread-only memory (ROM) circuit, an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM or Flash memory) circuit, a portable compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM), and a portable digital video disc read-onlymemory (DVD/Blu-ray). The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto or otherwise downloaded to a computer and/or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed on the computer and/or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process. Accordingly,embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/orin software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.)that runs on a processor or controller, which may collectively bereferred to as “circuitry,” “a module” or variants thereof. Further, anexample processing unit may include, by way of illustration, a generalpurpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventionalprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSPcore, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, anyother type of integrated circuit (IC), and/or a state machine As can beappreciated, an example processor unit may employ distributed processingin certain embodiments.

Further, in at least some additional or alternative implementations, thefunctions/acts described in the blocks may occur out of the order shownin the flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may infact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimesbe executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowchartsand/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or thefunctionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams may be at least partially integrated. For example, at leastsome of the nodes shown in the wireless streaming network environmentsof FIG. 4 and FIG. 11 such as the ABR stream delivery server and/orassociated delivery control module, video-encoded message generationsystem, video outage area location server and associated database(s),for example, may be integrated or otherwise co-located in differentcombinations, including as part of an RNC node. Finally, other blocksmay be added/inserted between the blocks that are illustrated. Moreover,although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths toshow a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood thatcommunication may occur in the opposite direction relative to thedepicted arrows.

Although various embodiments have been shown and described in detail,the claims are not limited to any particular embodiment or example. Noneof the above Detailed Description should be read as implying that anyparticular component, element, step, act, or function is essential suchthat it must be included in the scope of the claims. Reference to anelement in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one”unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structuraland functional equivalents to the elements of the above-describedembodiments that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art areexpressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to beencompassed by the present claims. Accordingly, those skilled in the artwill recognize that the exemplary embodiments described herein can bepracticed with various modifications and alterations within the spiritand scope of the claims appended below.

What is claimed is:
 1. A radio white spot coverage method for a wirelessuser equipment (UE) device engaged in an adaptive bitrate (ABR)streaming session, the method comprising: determining that the wirelessUE device is in a radio white spot area; suspending the ABR streamingsession at a particular segment; commencing playback of other contentlocally cached at the wireless UE device; determining that the wirelessUE device is exiting the radio white spot area; and resuming the ABRstreaming session from a point adjacent to the particular segment wherethe ABR streaming session was suspended.
 2. The method as recited inclaim 1, further comprising: before suspending the ABR streamingsession, continuing to play back lower bitrate media segments of the ABRstreaming session downloaded into the wireless UE device's ABR buffer asthe wireless UE device traverses the radio white spot area.
 3. Themethod as recited in claim 2, further comprising: providing anotification that the wireless UE device is in the radio white spot areaand the ABR streaming session is being suspended due to a qualitycondition relative to the radio white spot area.
 4. The method asrecited in claim 3, further comprising: providing a notification thatthe wireless UE device is exiting the radio white spot area and that theABR streaming session is being resumed.
 5. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein the other content locally cached at the wireless UEdevice comprises advertisement content.
 6. The method as recited inclaim 5, wherein the advertisement content comprises at least one oflocation-based advertisements relative to the radio white spot area andadvertisements relevant with respect to demographic information of auser of the wireless UE device.
 7. The method as recited in claim 5,wherein the advertisement content is pre-populated into the wireless UEdevice's cache based on anticipated radio white spot areas likely toencountered by the wireless UE device.
 8. The method as recited in claim5, wherein the advertisement content is pre-populated into the wirelessUE device's cache when the wireless UE device is in an area havingsufficient radio signal quality outside the radio white spot area.
 9. Awireless user equipment (UE) device, comprising: a cache for storingadvertisements downloaded from a network entity while the wireless UEdevice is in radio coverage area having sufficient signal quality forsupporting an overall bandwidth rate that is greater than a bandwidthrate necessary for facilitating an adaptive bitrate (ABR) streamingsession of content encoded at a highest bitrate; an ABR buffer forstoring media segments encoded at different bitrates pursuant to an ABRstreaming session; an ABR client player configured to play back contentout of the ABR buffer; and one or more processors coupled to apersistent memory having program instructions for controlling the ABRclient player to play stored advertisements instead of media segmentswhen the wireless UE device is in a radio white spot area.
 10. Thewireless UE device as recited in claim 9, wherein the persistent memoryincludes program instructions configured to: save an existing staterelative to a current media segment of the ABR streaming sessionresponsive to receiving a notification that the wireless UE device is inthe radio white spot area; and move the advertisements stored in thecache to the ABR buffer for playback by the ABR client player while thewireless UE device is in the radio white spot area.
 11. The wireless UEdevice as recited in claim 10, wherein the persistent memory includesprogram instructions configured to: complete playing back anadvertisement currently being played by the ABR client player uponreceiving a notification that the wireless UE device is exiting theradio white spot area; and resume playing back the ABR streaming sessionat a media segment relative to the saved existing state.
 12. Thewireless UE device as recited in claim 9, further comprising a HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) server for facilitating playback of theadvertisements stored in the cache by the ABR client player based onmanifest files received from a ABR stream delivery server wherein themanifest files are configured to contain location pointers to the cachedadvertisements.
 13. An adaptive bitrate (ABR) stream delivery server forfacilitating ABR streaming sessions in a wireless radio networkenvironment, comprising: one or more processors; an outage area requestmodule operating under control of the one or more processors andconfigured to request anticipated video outage areas with respect to awireless user equipment (UE) device, the anticipated video outage areasbeing based on the wireless UE device's current location and estimateddirection of travel in the wireless radio network environment; anadvertisement request module operating under control of the one or moreprocessors for obtaining advertisement content from an advertisementserver, wherein the advertisement content is relevant with respect tothe anticipated video outage areas of the wireless UE device; and adelivery module operating under control of the one or more processorsand configured to: effectuate delivery of ABR media segments encoded atdifferent bitrates and associated manifest files to the wireless UEdevice pursuant to an ABR streaming session when the wireless UE deviceis not in a video outage area; effectuate delivery of the advertisementcontent to the wireless UE device for local storage thereat; and providemanifest files to the wireless UE device containing location pointers tothe locally stored advertisements for playback by the wireless UEdevice's ABR client when the wireless UE device is in a video outagearea.
 14. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 13, furtherincluding a notification module operating in conjunction with thedelivery module for facilitating delivery of a video-encodednotification message to the wireless UE device, upon determining thatthe wireless UE device is in the video outage area, that the ABRstreaming session to the wireless UE device is being suspended and oneor more advertisements will be played back while the wireless UE deviceis in the video outage area.
 15. The ABR stream delivery server asrecited in claim 14, wherein the video-encoded notification messagefurther includes an estimation of outage time associated with the videooutage area.
 16. The ABR stream delivery server as recited in claim 14,wherein the notification module is further operative for facilitatingdelivery of a video-encoded notification message to the wireless UEdevice, upon determining that the wireless UE device is exiting thevideo outage area, that the ABR streaming session to the wireless UEdevice is being resumed.
 17. The ABR stream delivery server as recitedin claim 13, further including an interface for communicating with oneor more base stations disposed in the wireless radio networkenvironment.
 18. A method for pre-populating advertisements in awireless radio network environment operative to effectuate adaptivebitrate (ABR) streaming sessions, the method comprising: determiningthat a manifest file associated with a wireless UE device's current ABRstreaming session is unencrypted, wherein the wireless UE device isassociated with a vehicle traveling in a geographical area of thewireless radio network environment; parsing the manifest file fordetermining ABR profile bitrates used for encoding different mediasegments of the current ABR streaming session; determining that thewireless UE device's overall bandwidth exceeds a highest bitrateindicated in the manifest file; determining at least one of a locationand direction of travel associated with the wireless UE device;determining that the wireless UE device is headed in a direction likelyto encounter a video outage area; obtaining location coordinates of thevideo outage area and calculating an estimated time for traversing thevideo outage area; obtaining advertisements relevant to the video outagearea wherein the advertisements are estimated to last for a durationrequired to traverse the video outage area; and controlling delivery ofthe advertisements to the wireless UE device at a delivery rate based onan amount by which the wireless UE device's overall bandwidth exceedsthe highest bitrate indicated in the manifest file of the current ABRstreaming session.
 19. The method as recited in claim 18, furthercomprising requesting an encoded notification message to be played atthe wireless UE device when the wireless UE device enters the videooutage area, the encoded notification message for indicating that thewireless UE device is in the video outage area that lasts for a specifictime duration.
 20. The method as recited in claim 18, furthercomprising, upon determining that the manifest file associated with thewireless UE device's current ABR streaming session is encrypted,refraining from pre-populating of advertisements into the wireless UEdevice.
 21. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:verifying, upon determining that that the wireless UE device's overallbandwidth does not exceed a highest bitrate indicated in the manifestfile, whether the wireless UE device is still active; and if not,refraining from pre-populating of advertisements into the wireless UEdevice.
 22. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:verifying, upon determining that that the wireless UE device's overallbandwidth does not exceed a highest bitrate indicated in the manifestfile, whether the wireless UE device is still active; and if so, waitingfor a period of time before determining again whether the wireless UEdevice's overall bandwidth exceeds a highest bitrate indicated in themanifest file of the current ABR streaming session.
 23. The method asrecited in claim 18, further comprising: verifying, upon determiningthat that the wireless UE device is not headed in a direction likely toencounter a video outage area, whether the wireless UE device is stillactive; and if not, refraining from pre-populating of advertisementsinto the wireless UE device.
 24. The method as recited in claim 18,further comprising generating a manifest playlist for the advertisementsto be transmitted to the wireless UE device.
 25. A method operating atan adaptive bitrate (ABR) stream delivery server for facilitating ABRstreaming sessions in a wireless radio network environment, the methodcomprising: determining that a wireless user equipment (UE) deviceengaged in an ABR streaming session has entered a video outage area;updating a manifest file to reference at least one of an encodednotification message that the wireless UE device is out of videocoverage and one or more advertisements stored locally within thewireless UE device; and transmitting the updated manifest file to thewireless UE device, whereupon an ABR client executing on the wireless UEdevice is operative to play back at least one of the encodednotification message and one or more advertisements while the wirelessUE device is within the video outage area.
 26. The method as recited inclaim 25, wherein the one or more advertisements comprise advertisementsrelevant with respect to at least one of the video outage area anddemographic information pertaining to a user of the wireless UE device.27. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the encoded notificationmessage further contains a message as to how long the video outage isexpected to continue.
 28. A method operating at a wireless userequipment (UE) device including an ABR client engaged in a streamingsession, the method comprising: receiving a notification that thewireless UE device is in a video outage area of a wireless radio networkenvironment; continuing to play back media segments of the streamingsession from an ABR buffer associated with the ABR client; determiningwhether the ABR buffer is drained; if so, saving a next media segment'sexisting state based on the streaming session's manifest; and commencingplay back of one or more advertisements stored in a local cache of thewireless UE device.
 29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein theone or more advertisements comprise advertisements relevant with respectto at least one of the video outage area and demographic informationpertaining to a user of the wireless UE device.
 30. The method asrecited in claim 28, further comprising presenting a message to a userof the wireless UE device that the wireless UE device is in a videooutage area.
 31. The method as recited in claim 28, further comprisingmoving the one or more advertisements from the local cache to the ABRbuffer for play back by the ABR client.
 32. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium containing instructions stored thereon which,when executed by one or more processors of an adaptive bitrate (ABR)stream delivery server, facilitate ABR streaming sessions in a wirelessradio network environment, the non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising: a code portion for determining that a wireless userequipment (UE) device engaged in an ABR streaming session has entered avideo outage area; a code portion for updating a manifest file toreference at least one of an encoded notification message that thewireless UE device is out of video coverage and one or moreadvertisements stored locally within the wireless UE device; a codeportion for transmitting the updated manifest file to the wireless UEdevice, whereupon an ABR client executing on the wireless UE device isoperative to play back at least one of the encoded notification messageand one or more advertisements instead of playing back media segments ofthe ABR streaming session while the wireless UE device is within thevideo outage area; and a code portion, upon determining that thatwireless UE device is exiting the video outage area, for effectuatingdelivery of media segments of the ABR streaming session to the wirelessUE device, whereupon the ABR client is operative to resume play back ofthe ABR streaming session.
 33. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium as recited in claim 32, wherein the one or more advertisementscomprise advertisements relevant with respect to at least one of thevideo outage area and demographic information pertaining to a user ofthe wireless UE device.
 34. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumas recited in claim 32, wherein the encoded notification message furthercontains a message as to how long the video outage is expected tocontinue.
 35. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containinginstructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or moreprocessors of an wireless user equipment (UE) device, facilitate ABRstreaming sessions in a wireless radio network environment, thenon-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: a code portion,responsive to receiving a notification that the wireless UE device is ina video outage area of a wireless radio network environment, wherein thewireless UE device is engaged in an ABR streaming session, forcontinuing to play back media segments of the ABR streaming session froman ABR buffer associated with the ABR client; a code portion fordetermining whether the ABR buffer is drained; a code portion, upondetermining that the ABR buffer is drained, for saving a next mediasegment's existing state based on the ABR streaming session's manifest;a code portion for facilitating play back of one or more advertisementsstored in a local cache of the wireless UE device; and a code portion,upon receiving a notification that that wireless UE device is exitingthe video outage area, for resuming the ABR streaming session.
 36. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 35, whereinthe one or more advertisements comprise advertisements relevant withrespect to at least one of the video outage area and demographicinformation pertaining to a user of the wireless UE device.
 37. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 35, furthercomprising a code portion for presenting a message to a user of thewireless UE device that the wireless UE device is in a video outage areaand that the ABR streaming session is being suspended for a particulartime duration.
 38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium asrecited in claim 37, further comprising a code portion for presenting amessage to a user of the wireless UE device that one or moreadvertisements will be played while the wireless UE device is in thevideo outage.
 39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recitedin claim 38, further comprising a code portion for moving the one ormore advertisements from the local cache to the ABR buffer for play backby the ABR client.